Google has overnight announced that the European carriers will be rolling out a service which will supply your phones location to emergency services when you dial an emergency number, aided by the Emergency Location Service in Google Play Services.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) recently announced similar improvements to their location services for mobile calls to landlines which narrowed down locations. This was based on the proximity to base stations, which the ACMA said could be down to 50m or 90Km depending on base stations nearby. Google will be utilising more on-board services from the phone, with Google advising
we created the Emergency Location Service in Android. This feature, when supported by your network, sends location from your phone to emergency services when you dial an emergency number. This uses the same location technologies available to apps on your phone, including Wi-Fi, GPS, and cell towers, to produce a more reliable emergency location both indoors and outdoors.
A number of UK and Estonian carriers have jumped on board the announcement including British Telecom, Vodafone, EE and 3.
The emergency location service in Android is a part of Google Play Services, which runs on devices running Android 2.3 and above. The delivery of your location is not handled by Google, it’s simply activated when you dial an emergency number.
Google has advised they would like to activate the feature in more countries soon, inviting anyone involved with a carrier or emergency services to get in contact with them by filling in the Google Form on their site.
